Finishing Off Week 3: New Car, The Next Week of Conferences, & Insights on Yuma.

The New Car:

So I am now an owner of my first car...In that, I have had a bittersweet moment giving up the van.  The van of many-a names.  Mabel from the parents, Manvan by some, Partyvan, Swag-wagon (Swag-wag for short), and many other names too that I don't quite remember.  In the moments of remembering my van, it's not so much the van I remember and feel emotions about, but the countless adventures that this vehicle has been the carrier to...

-Whether the time camping and the lights were left on and the battery died, 

-or the time we drove all night blasting music while burning incense in the back (nothing was smoked while we did this, we just liked the incense smell), 

-or the times it has taken me up north, to the lake with a canoe on top for fishing.  

-The adventures to Duluth for camping, 

-The time at Minnehaha Falls, and the window was broken into,

-The first time I've driven at 100mph (yes, my van did it!), 

-the time it was used for my cabin while I got hit on the head with a giant log (thanks Thomas) and then the battery died in the hospital parking lot, 

-Countless late night Tacobell runs,

-even the family road trips to the west coast, Indiana, or the cabin...This van has brought me to many places.

Glass from the break in,

Almost lost the Canoe!

The Woods

There are many fond memories that I've had within this vehicle.  It's even been to San Diego here, or to the mountains of Yuma and California...It's had it's final adventure here to AZ.  Nottosay I don't like my new car, I've just been having many nostalgic thoughts about all the things done.  The van was a chapter of my life that was full of freedom and adventures...It was what I used at college.  Even though those feelings and memories are found, and I am reminded of many friends in fun trips, the "spirit" of this vehicle...A spirit of adventure, that will carry on through the next vehicles I have...These adventures will just be limited to 5 people instead of 7...(Sorry extra 2 people who don't make the cut!)

Anyways, this blog entry just got deep.

 As it was (in theory) hard to give up this van forever...The lack of AC, consistent dinging as a warning of the overheated engine, and lack of steering wheel fluid made it easy to turn it in for the new car!

The new ride...

2013 Ford Fiesta.

For you Minne-soOta (stressin' the O) Teachers:

Appreciate that your year is probably about to begin...I am getting ready for the first round of parent teacher conferences.  So yes.  A lot of work is ahead for me!  But it will end with a nice long weekend after for Labor Day!  

The Insights on Yuma:

This is another thought on Yuma and what I have seen so far...Yuma is a place that many people go to for new opportunities and occupations.  Teaching positions specifically bring many young 20-somethings here.  I say this because I run into many people fresh out of college here without any connections other than their job.  It's an interesting balance of teachers, military, or locals who've always lived here known as Yumens.  Anyways, just something I've noticed and find interesting.  THere's also apparently a lot of older folk who come here in the winter months for cheap, warm places to live.  These folk are known as Snowbirds...They haven't made it yet, but it will change the area I reckon!  

Sunday Sunset + Start of the Week

So this Sunday me and my crew (well not my crew, but the Crown buddies that all came to Yuma) went out to see the sunset.  We wanted to get some photos of it to show off to all the Minnesotans how pretty it is here.  So we did.  Or should I say, my friends did.  They haven't posted them so I can't steal them from Facebook....so yes. Anticlimactic.  Sunday my van finally died as well.  This means I need to get a new car.  Not sure if a used car will be an upgrade for my van, but I will no longer hold soccer mom status.  That van and I have done a lot though.  Been to a lot of places.  Electronic moment of silence for my van...

...

...

Thank you.  

This start if the week has been good as well.  Oh, weather update; it rained today!  It was crazy.  Both in the area of wether as well as how hopped up the kiddos got!  It is like the same energy Minnesota kids have with the first snow!  Not only did I experience the hyper kids, we also had the wet clothing / adolescence smell too.  Yeah.  Interesting day...luckily it was our specials day so they used their energy on PE.  

Well that's all for now, have a good day, and until next time!  

This Week! (Sorry about the length of time between posts)

SORRY

Sorry it took so long to post again!  This week was pretty busy.  Last weekend was really fun, which meant not much planning was done so I was really taking it a day at a time.  Upon that, I was also needing to contact each parent with positives regarding their students.  So with both of these factored in, it was a very busy week! But here's some of the highlights, struggles, and other things I mention about this week! 

Found a Gecko! 

So Tuesday morning I was leaving the house, and the moment I opened the door, a creature scurried inside.  Now, knowing the set up of my apartment (and the lack therefore of light) I couldn't really see besides a darker mass moving into my house.  I enjoy animals (you know, science!) so I'm one to know basic movements of animals and this one had a unique like shuffle to its step.  Once when I finally got my iPhone light on to see, I saw it was a little Gecko that you (or should I say, I) always wanted at the pet stores.  So I caught it and threw it out.  After all this, I said to myself "self...You should blog about this!" Then I realized I didn't take a picture of it *facepalm* so here's a picture that looks semi like it....

Just kidding... Like this:

Bonus hat to show classiness of this lizard.

The Candle Fail (and then some!)

So there has been an ongoing battle to make my house smell like not smoke.  I've used Glade but that only masked it.  So I tried a candle.  It smells good when I'm there, but doesn't kill the smell.  But I used candles whenever I am at the apartment, so in the morning on Wednesday I was using a candle (flavor was rustic woods I believe) and I left quickly after my breakfast.  I came home and saw my candle was still going....It went all the way down from a one time use.  Whoops.  I thought that things could have been worse if it started a fire and the whole building burned down....Not sure if I am a optimist or pessimist with that kind of thinking...Worst of all, the house still smelled like smoke.  It smelled like I was camping in a rustic woods with someone smoking...

Fail candle.

After I blew out the candle and facepalmed myself, I then went into the kitchen and saw I left one of the burners on my stove on all day!  Double facepalm!!!  Wednesday seemed like the day I subliminally wanted to burn things...Anyways, not looking forward to my next electric bill.  

House Vapors

SO the battle of smells still continues.  If you are keeping up with this blog, I went to an essential oil party and purchased some oils that were intended to kill smells.  I have it all going and it seems to actually be working!  Even if it doesn't it solves some of my light issues and this random desire to go to a light party all at the same time. (That's what I call a triple kill...So many birds with one stone! [Sorry Erik if this idiom offends you...switch "birds" with "hawks" and that makes it okay!! :P  ]) 

Light show, smelling thing, & oils. 

This.

Last thing.  I was given this by a student.

The individual gave it to me and was so excited...He was saying "look Mr. Klemme it's an origami snake I made for you!"  He seemed so excited so I praised him and thanked him, not knowing if he actually put some time and effort into this...In reality, he didn't.  He even said afterwards that he just mashed up some paper then saw it looked semi like a snake and wanted to give it to me.  So funny.  3rd graders are hilarious. 

Almost nailed it...

I'm On A Boat!

Boat Trip on The Colorado River! 

Some of the kinder team (along with some stragglers like me) went on a trip to the Colorado River for some tubing, beach relaxing, and all around fun on the water.  On a day that was 118, it was a great way to spend the afternoon.  We had two tubes pulled by the boat and we cruised around the river (that and flying off of our rafts).  We also did a float down where the boat was carried by the river and we jumped in the water with lifejackets and followed the boat.  It was a very good time.  I got a lot of sun (not TOO much burnt skin, but some...) So all in all a grand old day.  We ended the night by going to an authentic Mexican taco stand via a parking lot.  It was called Monster Tacos which literally had the monster energy drink logo...Not sure if a no shame ripoff of the logo, but either way it was mad good!  Great after a day on the water.  

Another short story this week is that I played the guitar at a Church called Vertical Church.  It was pretty rad, and it is a really sweet venue.  Essentially an old movie theater turned into a church.  Anyways, now it is Sunday (AKA DaybeforeMonday) so time for the lesson planning / getting ready for the next week!  

First Week of School!

Random: 

So Google likes my photos.  I am on Google+ and so they made a cool slide shows with some photos with timestamps and locations.  This is one they made for the Trip to Fortuna Foothills and Yuma County.  Feel free to go though and see what Google does with my photos.  I just wish the pics were a bit cooler.  But either way, well played google...A little unsettling on how much info they can access, but it's cool!

https://goo.gl/photos/gQNEBhpYgWAxFKqXA

First Week: 

Now, first week of school is now completed.  It was good, it was long though.  MAPS testing made instructions easy for the week, most of what I said was "be quiet for those of us who are testing!"  Easy enough.  But days were drawn out without doing things.  So all in all, good, but I am ready to actually start into the curriculum.  A story from this week that was pretty funny was a student at the end of the day recognized a staff member from a previous grade they were in.  This 3rd grader was a very excited and energetic individual and saw her and gave the teacher a hug.  Now, the teacher was an older individual and she was fairly slim as well.  Once when the student hugged her, she came back to the 3rd grade teachers and exclaimed "Ahh, she's sooo skinny that in my hug I felt every one of her bones!"  Yeah...The teacher who received the hug I think was out of earshot of that one, but still...Good ol' tactful 3rd graders! 

Essential Oil Party

So on my 3rd grade team we have a individual who sells essential oils.  So we had a party that had all sorts of essential oils.  We could try them in water, smell them, use them to cure headache and other ailments.  So it was pretty chill.  It was interesting as well, however, because I was (and in general this is true) the only male.  Not to say essential oils are only for women, I would just say they aren't the most "manly" thing to do.  Either way, I got some and will use it on my house.  The one I am most looking forward to (As you all are eager to know) is one called White Fur.  There isn't a specific reason or aspect of it I like other than it smelled really good.  That was pretty much the basis of the night.  There's this key of what they help out with, how to use it, and most of the participants (excluding me and the 5 or 7 year old kids) went based off the usage of it.  I, on the other hand (with the kids) based my purchases off the smells.  

Sidenote:  If you are ever bored and want a terrible human smelling oil, get the cumin essential oil.  It smelled like a nasty person's foot.  It was...Intriguing.  

Continuing the Teaching.

First Full Days: How do we fill it? (MAP Testing....)[yaaaaaay]

So we are just on our first full week and full days.  How do we spend a lot of our times?  MAPS tests.  Hopefully you understand me well enough that my yaaaaaay is sarcastic.  I mean, MAPS tests makes planning easier, but they are not fun to give out.  I feel like an official teacher now, I'm dishing out tests! But going through these first four days, I'm starting to get used to this whole teacher thing...It's a lot more than just teaching the contact all right!  I have a bunch of piles of documents to sign and sticky notes to answer and finish.  It's busy all right, but even through this business, I love doing what I do. 

Parent Orientations:

We also did some orientations of parents.  It's so great to meet parents and see the similarities of parents to their offspring.  It's a lot of fun!  It probably comes from my people watching skills but it really is great to meet parents.  Today was also one of my 13hr work days....In at 6:30am, out at 7:30pm.  Guess I'm earning my summer hours!  

2nd Day & Telegraph Pass!

2nd Day:

So we had the second day of school happen on Friday.  It was another half day, so it went by quickly but went really well.  There wasn't anything crazy or major that happened, which I will take over something crazy or major happening!  The students were good again, I could tell they were starting to get comfortable here.  Not to say being comfortable is a bad thing, I want everyone to be comfortable, yet they were a bit more testy of the rules.  It was good though!  Got through most of the things I was planning on doing, now it's just about getting the full days in and beginning the MAPs testing next week.

Telegraph Pass: 

So there's been a hiking trail I've wanted to go to for so long, yet never found the correct way until this Saturday.  In Yuma, it is hot.  Fun fact.  So if you are doing hiking / things outside in the summer time, you have to start very early or late when the sun isn't all the way out.  So I left my place at 5am in order to be there at 5:30am to start the hike.  For those of you who have Fitbits and such, I earned a badge for climbing "150 floors." Obviously it wasn't steps actually, but that gives an estimate of how high it was.  It was 15,000 steps which is about 7ish miles or so.  So a good hike!  I have some photos on the top of the mountain, as well as a photo of me and a buddy from my school, Jan.  So yeah, good day, afterwards I took a nap for a good while!  Oh! and exciting news:  I finally purchased a mattress!  I am no longer on an air mattress or futon!  I'm sure I'm more excited about that then you, so to show you in text how excited I am, please reading my all caps "woot" as that depicts my excitement...
...
...
WOOT!

WOOT

First Day(s): Kinder Wednesday & First Day on Thursday!

Kinder on Wednesday:  

So this Wednesday the whole DVA staff help out at kinder for their first day of school.  Lets just say, I am glad to be in 3rd grade!  They are very sweet people, but so young!  There's a lot to teach them about being....A human!  It takes a lot of patience to be a kinder teacher, so mad props to all of them!  

First Day on Thursday:

SO today was the big day!  First day of school!  Woot!  It went very, very well!  It was great to finally see everyone in class and it went by very quickly and, for the most part, smooth.  We essentially went through the rules and management of our class, so it was very laid back and fun to meet everyone.  We have something called the "complement monster" where if we get complemented by someone else, whether a single student, group of students, or the whole class, it will "eat" a ping pong ball with that student(s) name.  This awesome monster was created by one of my very creative coworkers, and so here's a comparison of my "attempt" at some sort of smiley face to the monster we have now!

Anyways, it was fun to have the class be all about it, and we even got 4 complements from teachers because of our great lines in the hallways!  So a story that had the whole class giggling from was a student who had something to say...We just went through some rules and how rule number 2 is "Raise your hand for permission to speak" if that rule is not followed, then I would then call out "rule number 2!" and the class would say the rule and interrupt the interrupting student.  Soo that happened, and after that, I wanted to still call that student, so I call out his name and raised my hand to remind him to raise his hand, he then started to try saying the rule so I said "no not the rule..." then gestured to my hand to communicate he needs to raise his hand...He then look super confused and almost started talking again, so I said "no raise your hand!"  So he did, and then I told him "thank you for raising you hand what did you want to say?"  He thought about it, then said "I forgot..."  I pretty much lost it in laugher...We shared a lot of great memories and I am super happy and excited for my class!  At the end of the day, however....I am exhausted!  It is a lot of work to be a teacher, but I couldn't imagine doing another job that isn't working with young people!  

Tiring but so worth it!

Open House & The Struggle of Food

Open House:

So open house was amazing!  So many great students and families!  It was so much fun to meet almost the entire class!  I even had a student bring in flowers for me!  A very kind gesture, and a great change of foliage from the typical cacti seen around Yuma.  It was very fun.  I am thrilled to have such a great class, and looking forward to the first day on Thursday!  Tomorrow (which is Wednesday) is the first day of Kinder, so I get the honor of helping out and hanging out with some fantastic kind kindergarten students!  It will be a joy to see our youngest learners at our school!  

The Struggle of Food:

I think this whole blog could be an epic saga of my continual struggle with cooking.  Yesterday I decided to be somewhat lazy (but not completely lazy which is ordering a pizza), and decided to make a can of chicken noodle soup.  This was a cheap discounted Walmart can, but nonetheless it was still simply soup that needed to be warmed up.  So I poured the can out into the pan and I cooked it.  Fairly easy process.  When I started to eat it, however, I noticed that it was surprisingly salty.  Now, because my Dad eats a low sodium diet, I was thinking that I was just used to less salty meals, but it even in that, it was fairly salty.  I ate about two-thirds of it until I could not stand the salt and threw the rest away.  I then checked the can to see how much salt it was. This is what I saw.

So it had around 2,000mg of sodium, and I ate a good amount of it...I discovered the valuable cooking directions of Condensed soup:  add water.  Yeah....Forgot that step. Whoops.  Learned my lesson, and I will read what type of soup I get next time!  

San Diego!

So we (the Crown group that went to Yuma for jobs in education) decided that the weekend before school started needed a fun trip to the beach.  Thus we went to Mission beach in CA!  It was rad.  I have some photos of our trip.  But we stopped and ate at a bar and grill right by the beach, walked a ways to a pier, found an ice-cream joint called "baked bear" where we had ice cream sandwiches with freshly baked cookies and brownies as the  sandwich part.  It was great.  Total trip was about 10 miles of walking, so we were tired by the end of it!  but it was a ton of fun!  I also caught a small fiddler crab (or some sort of crab) it was adorable!  It also didn't pinch me, which was fantastic.  So yes.  All in all a great day!  Tomorrow (Monday the 3rd) is our open house, so all the families and students should be there to see the classrooms!  So looking forward to finally meeting all the students and families!  Today will be my final day of touch ups in the room, as well as grabbing the last components of the room.  Everything is coming together!